Family of Strangers: Building a Jewish Community in Washington State

Cone, Molly, Howard Droker, and Jacqueline Williams

ISBN 10: 0295982977 / ISBN 13: 9780295982977

Published by Washington State Jewish Historical Society, Seattle, 2003

About this Item

This is a wonderful history of Washington state's Jewish community, printed on thick, heavy, glossy paper. Well illustrated and particularly well documented, with 36 pages of end notes. Various chapters review the successive waves of Jewish immigration (German, Eastern European, Sephardic, and Holocaust refugees), as well as Jewish institutions, congregations, etc. Many Jewish families are reviewed in some detail, making the book a delight for genealogists. Black & white photos throughout. 394 pages, with index. There is a gift inscription on the title page, but because the signature seems to be a nickname (Hod?), it is not clear whether or not this was one of the authors (possibly Howard Droker).

Seller Inventory # 000805

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Family of Strangers: Building a Jewish Community in Washington State
• Publisher: Washington State Jewish Historical Society, Seattle
• Publication Date: 2003
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0295982977
• ISBN 13: 9780295982977
• Binding: Hardcover
• Condition: Fine
• Dust Jacket Condition: Fine
• Seller catalogs:
  • Local History
  • Judaica
  • Western States

About this title

Synopsis

2004 Washington State Book Award Finalist

Family of Strangers draws on hundreds of newspaper accounts, articles, and oral histories to provide the first comprehensive account of Washington State’s Jewish residents. The first Jewish immigrants came in a small trickle during the middle of the nineteenth century, and then in larger numbers during the open-door era that stretched to 1924. They included Ashkenazim primarily from the cities, towns, and shtetls of central and eastern Europe and Sephardim from the Mediterranean Basin. Followed by European Jews fleeing persecution by the Nazis and discrimination by the Soviet Union, their numbers grew with the arrival of American Jews who were part of the great westward movement in the postwar era.

Isolated from the large centers of American Jewish life, speaking different languages -- German, Yiddish, Ladino, and others -- and following different religious customs, initially these groups had little in common other than their identification as Jews, but they succeeded in developing a community whose members made notable contributions to the civic and cultural history of Washington State.

Regional politics, lively neighborhood histories, local responses to the plight of Europe’s Jews during World War II, commercial and business enterprises, detailed histories of congregations, organizational philanthropy and social work, and the contributions of Washington’s Jewish musicians and artists are presented in this generously illustrated book, often through the voices of those who took part. The vibrant life stories of dozens of notable local individuals are embedded in the overall context of how the Jews of Washington State organized a group of complementary and thriving cultural and religious communities.

About the Author

Molly Cone is the award-winning author of more than forty books for young readers. A native of Tacoma, she counts five generations of her and her husband's family born in Washington State. Lawyer and historian Howard Droker is the author of Seattle's Unsinkable Houseboats and numerous articles on Seattle's early Jews. Jacqueline Williams , also an award winner, is author of Wagon Wheel Kitchens, The Way We Ate, and The Hill with a Future: Seattle's Capital Hill 1900-1946, and lectures widely about pioneer life in the Pacific Northwest. All three authors live in Seattle.